Ask Iwata – Leading With Your Heart

It’s been six years now and I still remember the day he passed away. I was living by myself in a lonely rural town and stumbled on the news in a tweet when I got home. We’d heard that Iwata was sick but the severity of it was not clear until now. It was a massive shock. It felt like I’d lost a family member, except unlike my real parents, Iwata was actually a good person. He had something that I had rarely seen in adults and certainly not leaders. That missing thing was empathy. Empathy for his peers, empathy for his employees, empathy for gamers, and empathy for people who didn’t game. Empathy is one of the most important parts of being human, our species simply wouldn’t survive without it. Yet, it is barely taught or understood.

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Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity – The Power of Technology

What would you do if you heard a great calamity was on the way? Nothing, probably. Where’s the evidence, a time traveling mini robot? Pfftt, you just want my data. Nobody would believe it. Thankfully this is a videogame free of narcissism with a cast of heroes, royals, and eccentric warriors who are keen for adventure. Enter the Age of Calamity.

(Zelda is visibly shaken by the watermark that Koei Tecmo decided to put on all of their Switch screenshots. So many scenes ruined. Nevertheless, all screenshots were taken on my Switch in docked mode.)

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Journey to the Savage Planet – New Lease on Life

Good morning. What year is it?

I fell asleep on Earth and now I’ve woken up after an unknown number of years, alert and refreshed. Kindred Technologies are just the best, aren’t they? They call themselves the “4th best” space exploration company, but they really speak to me as a normal human being. I didn’t have much to live for so I signed up for their “experiment”. The year was 2034 and I got myself into 5 million dollars of debt from working too much and… wait, is that how working is supposed to work? I’ve never had the time or energy to think about it. Anyway, I’ve been given an opportunity to redeem myself by being launched towards a random planet in an experiment to find a habitable environment for humans. I was feeling lucky and sure enough, managed to land somewhere in one piece. Let’s see what this place is all about.

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Animal Crossing Cool Beats: New Horizons, Classic Tunes

Those industry fat cats want to charge big bucks for their tunes, but I think music should be free man. I’ve been making a few tunes to see what works in this thing, and thought I’d share. For ease of use I’ve put a separate sound clip, followed by an image of the notes you can input yourself. Enjoy the freedom. No likes, favs, subscribes or divides here man. This is all about sharing the vibe.

Keep in mind there are limitations of the Town Composer, it doesn’t have sharp notes so some things have gotta be in different keys. Still, a bit of compromise can get most songs in a recognisable state. You just gotta take what life throws at you man. How do you get these? There’s no password or online sharing unfortunately, but it’s very easy to just copy the notes yourself. Talk to Isabelle in the Town Hall and just move the notes up and down until you get what you want. If you don’t have the Town Hall yet then keep playing and come back to this later! Music always waits for you, so you can wait for it.

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Every Game has Flaws, Zelda has a Motorbike

Disgraceful, unforgivable motorbike sullying Link and The Legend of Zelda froever.

The Legends of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a great game, by any measure one of the greatest ever made, but the final instalment of DLC inflicted the most egregious assault I’ve ever seen on a video game. At the end of an uneven extra quest Link is rewarded with a motorbike. I invite you on a personal journey with me to learn about why the bike is so bad, how it came to this, and the personal toll it inflicted on me.

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Switched On – A Week Later

A week isn’t that long in the lifespan of console hardware, but I thought it was long enough to give more thoughts after my day 1 writeup. I’ve noticed more things, played more games, became a Pro, and felt more Joy. Perhaps the most significant thing however, is that I haven’t actually turned my Switch off. Sleep Mode is so good, that at first I didn’t even realise the difference between Power Off and Sleep Mode. It’s so good, that there IS no Power button on the console. If you want to power off you have to hold the Sleep button for 3 seconds, like some secondary function. Open your eyes, Switch.

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Switch Impressions – Matto Edition

I figured Grubdog can’t have all the fun with talking about first impressions of the Nintendo Switch, but while he has fancy pictures he took himself, my impressions are going to be picture-less.

Unlike Grub, my local EB Games did not have a midnight launch. It did open at 8:30 a.m. local time, and there was a long line up people who were going to buy it and in the mix were those who pre-ordered it, which included myself. In short, it took me an hour to get into the store because they were only letting five people in at a time, and some people came in groups where only one person in said group was going to get the Switch. Sucks having to wait, equally sucks seeing people trade in great WiiU games. Continue reading “Switch Impressions – Matto Edition” →

Nintendo Switch – Midnight Magic

I’ve just woken up from some of the most amazing hours of my life. I’ve got my Switch, set it up, played some games and I thought I’d write some impressions while they’re hot and I’m sleep deprived. Firstly, I’m extremely grateful that Australia was part of the worldwide launch, as it basically meant we got the console first after New Zealand. Pretty exciting.

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Twilight Princess HD – I’m a Hero Now

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A lot has changed in a decade. Suddenly I’m holding a baby and the world is mirrored. I must be getting old too, because my movement feels sluggish. It takes me longer to stop, and I can’t even walk and aim at the same time. It’s like my legs lock into place, I can’t move anywhere until I pull the camera back. I feel sorry for whoever has to stare at my butt while crawling.

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Pietriots Radio – Episode 4 (Switchmas Eve Speculation!)

We’re BACK! Join Grubdog, Bill, Deguello and Matto for some hype and speculation about the Nintendo Switch. With the official event approaching next week (January 12-13), we thought we’d get together to talk about the build-up, games, third party support, and the hardware itself. It’s been a while since the last podcast, so we made this one an extra meaty 2 hours.

Download Link (108mb)

(Recorded through Discord with some small connection hiccups [just Bill leaning back too far on his chair], but hopefully good enough to listen to and enjoy. The added music didn’t cause any cutouts, it’s just there on top. All feedback appreciated.)

If you have any predictions or hopes for the Nintendo Switch event please leave a comment! We’re all gonna look silly when the event is completely different, but it’s just a bit of fun. A Nintendo console launch does not come around often.

Nintendo still loves us

It’s been a pretty good year. Not a great one, but pretty good. We’ve seen some heavy hitters on 3DS with Fire Emblem Fates and Kirby Planet Robobot, and intense console action with Star Fox Zero and some memorable Splatfests. Dragon Quest 7, Federation Force and Color Splash are brand new games that just released with tons of content. Pokemon Sun & Moon is right around the corner, and set to be the biggest Pokemon adventure yet. Despite a handful of 3DS games though, next year looks a bit empty. It’s even worse on the Wii U front, with nothing Nintendo-related besides Zelda. Yooka-Laylee is gonna be great too, but there’s an ominous dark void after March. Nintendo has been tight-lipped about NX on a level without precedent. Fans are getting frustrated, confused, and feeling a bit left out.

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The Legend of Kusakari – Freshly Cut Justice

We’ve all done it. You’re playing your favourite legendary videogame with a very important quest to do. Traveling across a field to your next destination, your mind is heavy with responsibility. If only there was something to ease the tension. Swaying in the wind, something catches your eye… fresh grass. Thick, luscious, green, just begging to be cut. A few slashes can’t hurt, right? HYAH! CHOP! Health and money fly out but you don’t even care. The sound effect is rewarding enough. The grass disintegrates into the air along with your troubles. The leafy smell comes through the screen and you start to feel connected to nature. The objective of saving the world fades into the background as you seek out more grass to cut. HYAH! More! MORE! MOOOORE!

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Darksiders II – Death of the Wild

The universe is descending into chaos as the war between Heaven and Hell gets complicated. The Charred Council created The Four Horsemen, giving them the task of enforcing law and maintaining balance across multiple dimensions. Humanity emerges in a third dimension named Earth between Heaven and Hell, and this is where the real trouble begins. The very fabric of existence is threatened by screen tearing, as a videogame company named THQ threatens to publish the universe.

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This is the new world of Zelda…

It’s been two years since we got our first look at Zelda U, and now there’s less than two days until the hood is finally pulled off the secretive title.

We sadly will not see the game released in time for its 30th anniversary, with it being delayed to next year (likely to NX launch in March), but that does little to dampen the anticipation Zelda fans have for the title’s re-unveiling. Well, by fans I mean actual fans, not the ones that think Zelda should be more like Dark Souls, that Wind Waker’s art style is too kiddy, that the series requires voice-acting to be playable, or the numerous others with similarly unpleasant opinions.

So if you’re up for some speculation, let’s dive right in.

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The Legend of Midna: Twilight Picross

Exclusive to the My Nintendo rewards program comes a new chapter in the Zelda series. For hardcore Nintendo fans only, this game takes place in a dark timeline where Link dies and the player never continues the game. Midna gets bored of waiting, and starts carving out numbers on the spines of soldiers. “Hold still!” Midna insists, as the frightened guard screams in agony from the Twilight Realm. He can’t even see what Midna is doing, as she chuckles from the realm of light. Convinced he’s gone crazy, the guard kills himself with his spear, plunging it straight through his heart.

“Aw, you ruined my puzzle!” laments Midna. The spear went right though some of the numbers, but it gave Midna an idea. “I could combine numbers and lines to make interesting pictures!” Hooray! Welcome to My Nintendo Picross.

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